When learning how to use a computer, properly using a keyboard plays a very large role. This is the main way you will be interacting with your computer, and you can actually perform a variety of functions using just the keyboard. First comes mastering the art of typing, a skill which can significantly enhance your productivity. See Step 1 below to get started.

Steps

Part 1

Sitting at the Keyboard

1

Sit with good posture. In order to prevent strain on your hands, back, neck, and other joints, you'll want to sit at the keyboard with good posture. Sit slightly reclined in your seat, allowing the chair to support your lower back. Ideally, your elbows should be angled down slightly to promote circulation. Your feet should be planted firmly on the floor.[1]

Standing desks are growing increasingly popular, but an improper desk can promote bad posture. Your standing desk should be elbow-level or just slightly lower. Your monitor should be eye-level to keep you from hunching over, and should be around two feet from your eyes.[2]

2

Center the keyboard. When typing, your keyboard's spacebar should be centered to your body. This will help keep you from having to rotate to reach the keys.

3

Avoid resting your palms or wrist. Your hands should float above the keys while you type. This will help you reach keys by moving your hands instead of stretching your fingers. Resting your palms or your wrist on the front of the keyboard and stretching your fingers promotes carpal tunnel syndrome

4

Use a soft touch. Most keyboards are fairly sensitive and don't need much pressure for the key to register. Lightly tapping keys will help keep your fingers active and will improve your speed.

Part 2

Learning to Type

1

Open a word processor. Nearly every computer has a word processor installed. Even a basic text editor like Notepad will work. This will let you see what you type while you practice.

2

Find the Home position with both hands. The Home position is where your hands will start when your typing, and where your fingers return to after striking a key. Most keyboards have raised bumps on the F and J keys. These indicate where your index fingers are placed.

Slightly arch your fingers, and place your fingers on the keys next to F and J.

Your left pinky rests on A, your left ring finger on S, and your left middle finger on D

Your right pinky rests on ;, your right ring finger on L, and your right middle finger on K.

Your thumbs rest on the spacebar.

3

Practice typing the home keys. Get used to pressing each key with it's corresponding finger. Memorize the key that each finger rests on through repetition. You want the home keys permanently imprinted in your memory so repetition is essential.

4

Use the Shift key to capitalize the home letters. You can capitalize letters by holding the ⇧ Shift key when you press the letter. Use your pinky to press and hold the ⇧ Shift key using the hand that isn't pressing the letter, and then press the letter you want to capitalize.

5

Expand to the keys surrounding the home keys. Once you have a good handle on the Home keys, you can start expanding to the other keys on the keyboard. Use the same repetition exercises to memorize the locations of the other keys. Use the nearest finger to reach the key.

If you are keeping your wrists elevated, you will be able to easily strike the keys that are slightly outside of your reach.

6

Practice typing basic sentences. Now that you are able to reach most keys without looking, it's time to start typing sentences. Try transcribing something else on your screen without looking at your keyboard. Sentences like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" contain every letter in the alphabet, allowing you to practice with all the keys.

7

Learn the positions of punctuation and symbols. Punctuation marks such as ., ;, and " are located on the right side of the keyboard. You can reach these keys using your right pinky. Many symbols need to have the ⇧ Shift key pressed in order to type them.

Symbols are located above each of the number keys that run along the top of the keyboard. You will need to have the ⇧ Shift key pressed in order to type them.

8

Focus on accuracy over speed. While typing fast may seem useful, it won't matter if you're making a lot of errors. Speed will come with practice, so focus all of your efforts on avoiding mistakes. You'll be typing faster before you know it.

Find a game or program to teach typing skills. There are lots of programs and games for all ages that teach typing skills through exercises and gameplay. These can making typing practice a bit more fun, and can do a lot for your accuracy and speed.

Part 3

Using the Navigation Keys

1

Move up, down, left, and right. The arrow keys ↑↓←→ are your main navigation keys on the keyboard. You can use them in a word processor to move around and between lines, use them on webpages to scroll, and use them in games to move around. Use your right hand to press the keys.

2

Scroll quickly through pages. You can quickly scroll through documents or webpages with the ⇞ Page Up and ⇟ Page Down keys. If you are using a word processor, these keys will move your cursor one page up or down from the cursor's current location. If you are viewing a webpage, these keys will scroll the page up or down one screen-length.

3

Jump to the beginning or end of a line. You can move the cursor directly to the start or end of a line with the ⇱ Home and ⇲ End keys. These keys are most useful in word processors.

4

Understand the difference between Delete and Backspace. The ← Backspace key will delete a character to the left of the cursor, while pressing Delete will delete a character to the right of the cursor.

You can also press ← Backspace to go back on a webpage.

5

Use Insert to toggle Insert mode. The Insert key changes the text input mode for your word processor. When Insert mode is toggled on any character you input will replace the character to the right of the cursor. With Insert mode toggled off, existing characters will not be replaced.

Part 4

Mastering the Numeric Pad

1

Open the calculator program. Using a calculator program is the best way to get used to the keys on the numeric pad. You can use the numeric pad keys to perform calculations in the calculator program.

2

Use NumLock to toggle the numeric pad. When the numeric pad is not activated, the 8, 4, 6, and 2 keys will act as arrow keys. Press NumLock to enable the keypad.

Some laptop keyboards do not have a separate numeric pad. They often need to be activated using the Fn key, which changes keyboard functions.

3

Find the Home position. Like the main part of the keyboard, the numeric pad has a Home position. On the 5 key, you will feel a raised bump similar to the F and J keys. Place your right middle finger on the 5 key, and then place your right index finger on the 4 key. Place your right ring finger on the 6 key, and your thumb on the 0 key. Your pinky rests on the ↵ Enter key.

4

Enter numbers. Use your fingers to press the number keys. you will see the numbers appear in the calculator program. Use repetition to memorize the number placement and which fingers you use to press them.

5

Perform calculations. Around the edge of the numeric pad, you will see the basic arithmetic keys. These let you divide (/), multiply (*), subtract (-) and add (+). Use these keys to perform a variety of calculations.

===Getting Familiar with Shortcuts===

Windows

1

Operating system shortcuts. You can use your keyboard to quickly perform a variety of tasks in Windows. These are called keyboard shortcuts, and are built into nearly every operating system and program. These are especially useful if you can't use your mouse or for saving time digging through menus. Below are some of the most common shortcuts:[3]

Alt+Tab ↹: Switch between windows

⊞ Win+D: Minimize or restore all windows

Alt+F4: Close active program or window

Ctrl+C: Copy selected item or text

Ctrl+X: Cut selected item or text

Ctrl+V: Paste copied item or text

⊞ Win+E: Display Windows Explorer

⊞ Win+F: Open the Search tool

⊞ Win+R: Display Run dialog box

⊞ Win+Pause: Display System Properties dialog box

⊞ Win+L: Lock the workstation

⊞ Win: Open the Start menu/Start screen

⊞ Win+L: Switch Users

⊞ Win+P: Change active display

Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Escape: Task Manager

2

Word processor shortcuts. Most applications have their own keyboard shortcuts. These vary from program to program, but most word processors share basic shortcuts. Below are some of the most common:

Ctrl+A: Select all text

Ctrl+B: Bold selected text

Ctrl+I: Italicize selected text

Ctrl+S: Save document

Ctrl+P: Print

Ctrl+E: Center alignment

Ctrl+Z: Undo

Ctrl+N: Create new document

Ctrl+F: Find text in document

Mac

1

Operating system shortcuts. You can use your keyboard to quickly perform a variety of tasks in Mac OS X. These are called keyboard shortcuts, and are built into nearly every operating system and program. These are especially useful if you can't use your mouse or for saving time digging through menus. Below are some of the most common shortcuts:

⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+A: Open the Applications folder

⌘ Cmd+C: Copy selected item/text to the Clipboard

⌘ Cmd+X: Cut

⌘ Cmd+V: Paste

⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+C: Open the Computer window

⌘ Cmd+D: Duplicate selected item

⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+D: Open desktop folder

⌘ Cmd+E: Eject

⌘ Cmd+F: Find any matching Spotlight attribute

⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+F: Find Spotlight file name matches

⌥ Option+⌘ Cmd+F: Navigate to the search field in an already open Spotlight window

⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+G: Go to Folder

⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+H: Open the Home folder of the currently logged-in user account

⌥ Option+⌘ Cmd+M: Minimize all windows

⌘ Cmd+N: New Finder window

⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+N: New folder

⌥ Option+⌘ Cmd+Esc Open the Force Quit window

2

Word processor shortcuts. Most applications have their own keyboard shortcuts. These vary from program to program, but most word processors share basic shortcuts. Below are some of the most common: